I have to admit that I was not a fan of muni bonds for quite some time. In some ways, I’m still not. What they have going for them is that they rarely default, and the income they throw off is generally free of both federal and state taxes. So … [Read more...]

The fundamental concept behind fixed income investing, especially for retirement investors, is that you are trying to preserve capital while generating enough interest and dividends to enhance your income. The strategy is also designed to allow you … [Read more...]

Last time, I discussed preferred stock, and how they are really a stock-bond hybrid with many aspects of bonds. I think you should have some in your long-term diversified income portfolio.
What are the criteria to screen for possible preferred … [Read more...]

Trivia question: what security trades like a bond, offers high yield like a bond, has just a little less safety than a bond but more than a stock, and was an exotic security until a few years ago?
Preferred stock!
Although this is … [Read more...]

Bond investors may have noticed that there’s something going on in Greece about the country being broke. Perhaps investors haven’t paid much attention because Greece is a little country that is far away, and they don’t hold any Greek bonds, … [Read more...]

Bonds are mistakenly considered a “safe” investment, because they usually don’t result in an investor losing his shirt. The truth is that bonds carry their own unique set of risks, and it is vital to understand each of them.
Most conservative … [Read more...]

Many investors think of bonds as “safe”. That’s not really a good idea. Bonds are “safer” compared to some other investments, but not as safe as others. In a period of unprecedented market changes, where the bond market has been manipulated by the … [Read more...]

All investors face the same problem but with different attitudes: risk. Everyone has concerns over their investments, but our individual risk tolerance governs not only what we invest in, but how we respond when that investment declines.
There is … [Read more...]

At last, the Federal Reserve has ended the Quantitative Easing program. This may have serious implications for fixed income investments and interest rates. Many investors believe that the Fed will increase short term interest rates in 2015 and … [Read more...]

The Fed is expected to increase rates in 2015 and that might result in both increased volatility in the bond markets, along with plenty of uncertainty. Managers of bond funds who are preparing for these changes now prefer to hold cash. Interestingly, … [Read more...]

In the second part of my series on bond fund management, I’m going to offer two more reasons to consider active management. Last time I discussed three important reasons to consider an active manager. This time, you’ll find two more reasons why … [Read more...]

Is there any value in actively managing bond investments? After all, with all those ETFs and bond mutual funds out there, many that reflect an index, why bother paying someone to manage a fund?
The truth is there are several reasons why active … [Read more...]

This is third and final article in my series about a new kind of bond investment called “exchange-traded debt” or ETDs.
Let’s review: Exchange-traded debt very much resembles preferred stock in that they both have characteristics similar to bonds … [Read more...]

Recently I wrote about exchange traded debt. These securities are perfect for income and retirement investors, because they provide the safety of bonds, but the yields of preferred stock, and liquidity of equities. It’s the happy medium for … [Read more...]

You want to learn bonds? Today we’re going to learn about an investment that are bonds, but trade just like stocks. No, I'm not talking about preferred stocks, but another high yield investment that’s even safer than preferred … [Read more...]

There are some great reasons to praise the advent of ETFs. They allow you to invest in a diversified portfolio of a given type of security, so that you don’t have to pick and choose among individual securities that will increase your risk … [Read more...]

Right now, Merck (NYSE: MRK), this nation's second biggest pharmaceutical maker, is a curious animal: a value stock that's priced like a growth stock. It's almost enough to for me to put a “Sell” recommendation on the stock, but not quite. An … [Read more...]

Not every Wall Street analyst has a buy recommendation on 3M (NYSE: MMM) – in fact, only about a third do. So, I keep looking for a reason not to buy it and I can't find one. This $31 billion global industrial conglomerate headquartered in the … [Read more...]

Nobody is bigger in the restaurant business than McDonald's (NYSE: MCD): it has more than 35,000 stores in 100 countries on six continents, and says its serves 70 million people a day. Since its founding in San Diego in 1954, the company is one of … [Read more...]

My attitude on banking giant JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) can be summed up in what its second-quarter 2014 earnings report two weeks ago: both good and bad, rays of optimism but also some clouds on the horizon. In short, my view is that, while Wall … [Read more...]